Nonpoisonous way to rid garden of termites

Richard Fagerlund

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Q: My garden has termites (subterranean). They are in the wood used for the raised beds, and I would like to remove them ASAP. What's your advice on how to get rid of them without poisoning myself or my family?

A: Cut some cardboard pieces about 2 feet square. Then dig a shallow hole to place them in. Soak the cardboard with water and sprinkle it heavily with boric acid or borax and then bury it. Check it in about a week to see if there is any activity. If not, sprinkle some seltzer water on the cardboard and rebury it.

The termites should go to the cardboard and stay away from the wood you are using, and the boric acid or borax will kill them. Also, you can treat the wood you are using for the raised beds with a sodium borate such as BoraCare. BoraCare is available online at www.pestcontrolsupplies.com.

Q:I recently was bitten by chiggers. I probably got them from cleaning the chicken coop. I have nine chickens and usually pick up their droppings every day, but recently, I've been hosing part of the coop that has wooden floors. The other part of the coop is a sand-like soil that I rake almost every day. This is where the chicken food and water and food scraps are located. They are free range during the day and kept in only when it rains.

Where to Find the Most and Least Expensive Airports in the U.S.TaLTIME

Trump Travel Ban: Executive Order Adds New Countries to the ListTaLTIME

Sell your home fast with these 9 staging tipsWibbitz

How do I get rid of the chiggers, since I can't see them? I wear high boots now when I go into the coop. I have a vegetable garden near the coop and save their droppings for fertilizer.

S.E., Redding

A: They aren't chiggers, but they are probably a species of bird mite. Here is what you need to do. Remove the chickens for a day or so and then completely spray the inside of the coop, including the walls, with Greenbug or Outdoors. It will kill all the mites in the coop and not affect the chickens at all. You can get Greenbug online from www.greenbugallnatural.com.

Q:We live in Southern California, and the black widows are rampant! We have a small patio, about 12 by 15 feet, and I have gotten rid of a dozen or so over the past eight months, and there are signs of several more.

Is there anything that gives them the message to go away? I don't want to poison, because it kills everything else as well. But I do have a toddler who likes to play with the dirt and plants and I need to protect him. I know the widows are shy, but he pokes his hands everywhere, and I don't really want to teach him to be afraid of plants and dirt.

A.P., San Diego

A: Get some food-grade diatomaceous earth, available at a local feed store, and blow some dust in any and all cracks and crevices where spiders may hide. You can get a Centro-Bulb duster to apply it ( www.pestcontrolsupplies.com) or you can use an empty squeezable ketchup or mustard container. The duster would work better.

Then you can spray any spiders that come out from the dusted areas with dish soap and water and alcohol (equal parts). Make sure there aren't a lot of places, such as woodpiles, for bugs to hide. If there aren't any bugs in the vicinity, the spiders will go elsewhere to look for food.